This campaign is in its preparatory stages; this wiki is the central storehouse for information on the game and will include Character Creation Guidelines, background information on the Worlds of Wonder setting and Sam Shepherd in particular, house rules, character sheets for the PCs, and more.

• The Character Creation page.
• House Rules pertaining both to Character Creation and Game Play.
• The Sam Shepherd page.
• Other members of our Supporting Cast.
• Welcome to Worlds of Wonder.

Campaign Premise

In the summer of 2008, former New Jersey Governor Sam Shepherd defeated John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee to become the Republican nominee for the office of President of the United States. What makes Shepherd's campaign unusual is that he was once the superhero known as Vanguard. You, the players, are Secret Service agents who have been assigned to protect Shepherd during his campaign. In addition to the constant threat of violence against a Presidential candidate by terrorist groups or individuals, Shepherd is presumably targeted by his many superhuman foes. A visit to Iraq and Afghanistan is also on the Governor's travel agenda before Election Night.

Themes

Most superhero stories avoid talking about current events; this one confronts them directly and makes them part of the campaign. The presidential election of 2008 is a tremendously important one to our country and our society; I suppose this game is partly my way of investigating that election, asking questions, and possibly getting some interesting answers.

The conflict between conscience and duty is also key to this game, and is built into your role as Secret Service agents. You can see this in virtually any Hollywood film that has a Secret Service agent in it -- inevitably the agent is confronted with things which he believes the world ought to know, and yet his primary duty is to the man the agent is protecting. Conflict between the desire to keep a clean conscience and the desire to fulfill one's duty puts the agent in a Moral Dilemma (tm).

What Will We Do?

The campaign will be 8-12 weeks long, beginning with the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the first week of September. It will end with Election Night in the first week of November. Our game may actually take longer than the first week of November to complete, but we will finish sometime in November.

In addition to regular bouts of superhuman violence, you can expect investigation of several different plotlines, some of which will resolve quickly, and others of which will not resolve until the end of the campaign. You can expect a few different "mini-climaxes" taking place over 2-3 session story arcs. You can expect the introduction of 1980s era supervillains whom Governor Shepherd once battled, modern threats, charges of political corruption, and a fierce battle for the Presidency. This race for the White House will constantly threaten to suck your character into a host of moral and ethical issues which make your job as a Secret Service agent tasked with protecting the Governor harder.